Management

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Lanvin Group

Joann Cheng has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Lanvin Group since its inception. She is also the Vice President and a Global Partner of Fosun International. In addition, Ms. Cheng is the Chairman and CEO of Lanvin, a member of International Advisory Board of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Advisory Committee of CEIBS Global Branding Strategy & Fashion Industry Research Fund. Ms. Cheng has extensive experience in investment and financing, corporate strategy and portfolio management.

Prior to joining the Fosun Group, Ms. Cheng served as a CFO of DJI Innovation, Finance Director of TPG and Controller of GE Capital Group in Greater China. Ms. Cheng holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and an EMBA Degree from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

Executive President, Interim Chief Financial Officer & Co-Chief Operating Officer, Lanvin Group

David Chan has been the Executive President and Co-COO of Lanvin Group since its inception. He currently serves as Chairman of Wolford’s Supervisory Board, and a board member of Lanvin, Sergio Rossi, St. John and Caruso. He is also currently the Interim CFO for the Group. At Lanvin Group, Mr. Chan is responsible for leading multiple aspects of Lanvin Group’s activities including mergers and acquisitions, brand operation, setting the vision and strategy, key personnel recruitment, and define and track key success factors and guidelines for the portfolio brands. Mr. Chan led the acquisition of Lanvin , Sergio Rossi, St. John.

Prior to joining the Lanvin Group, Mr. Chan served as the board observer of Cirque du Soleil, and Managing Director at China Momentum Fund, a cross-border private equity fund under Fosun International. Prior to joining Fosun, Mr. Chan was the Investment Professional at Alcentra, a subsidiary under BNY Mellon. Mr. Chan holds a Bachelor’s Degree with dual majors in Economics and Mathematics from Emory University.

Operating Partner, Lanvin Group

Christopher Tate is an operating partner at Lanvin Group and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at St. John. He is also the CEO of John Elliott and holds board roles for Zadig et Voltaire, Jenni Kayne, and Reese Cooper.

Chris has held prior CEO/President roles at Fast Retailing, James Perse, and spent his early executive career at Giorgio Armani.

Chris is active with several non-profit organizations to support the Arts. He is currently an executive director at Los Angeles Dance Project and the chairman of the board for Proposals For All.

Operating Partner, Lanvin Group

Jessey Chan is an Operating Partner of Lanvin Group. In that capacity, he is the acting COO of Lanvin. Before that, Jessey served as the Chief Restructuring Officer on the board of St John Knits, one of the Group’s portfolio brands.

Prior to joining Lanvin Group, Jessey was SVP, Chief Procurement Officer of Blackstone-owned DJO Global Inc., a medical devices company based in Austin Texas. Jessey was also the SVP of Operations at TPG.

Jessey spent over 7 years at Dell as an executive director leading the company's Asia procurement team and later its Asia Consumer/SMB as the business unit CFO. Jessey is an engineer by training and has a BS and a MS degree in computer science and MBA in finance.

Deputy General Manager, Lanvin

Siddhartha Shukla joined Lanvin as Deputy General Manager in December 2021.  He has extensive experience in various disciplines across the fashion industry. Prior to joining Lanvin, Mr. Shukla spent eight years at Theory, Fast Retailing’s advanced contemporary fashion brand. During his tenure, he built and oversaw the brand’s marketing and merchandising functions as Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Merchant and ultimately as Chief Brand Officer. Previously, Mr. Shukla led worldwide marketing and communications at Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci in Paris and New York for over a decade. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in English Literature & Anthropology from Yale University.

Chief Executive Officer, Wolford

Silvia Azzali was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer of Wolford in November 2019.  She was promoted from the role of Global Sales & Merchandising Director, responsible for HR, Finance, Sales, Digital, Merchandising, MPA, Design, Brand, Marketing, Licensing and Collaborations.

Ms. Azzali first joined Wolford as Managing Director for South Europe in 2011 and also served as Head of International Wholesale. She then moved to be Global Retail, Online & Franchising Director of Ermanno Scervino (2016-2018) and Head of Global Retail & Franchising of Moschino before returning to Wolford in 2019.

Silvia Azzali has had a long career in beauty, especially in the field of fashion, having gained experience with brands such as Trussardi in Retail Management, L'Occitane en Provence as Country Manager Italy and La Perla as Retail Director Europe & Worldwide Top Doors. Silvia Azzali studied Philosophy at the University of Parma in 1991 and received a scholarship for a Master’s degree program in HR Management in Milan in 1996.

Interim Chief Executive Officer, Sergio Rossi

Paul Kotrba is the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Sergio Rossi. He is a seasoned global retail and luxury goods executive, with 25 years of operating and brand-building experience, working in various executive positions within LVMH, and L Catterton.

Mr. Kotrba joined Lanvin Group as an Operating Partner in February 2022. Before that, he was CEO of L Catterton-owned Seafolly.

At LVMH, Mr. Kotrba was the executive responsible for sales and business development of the Donna Karan and DKNY brands, with teams in New York, London, Milan and Shanghai. As a result of that successful track record, Mr. Kotrba was invited into the elite LVMH Future Leadership Program. He attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program and holds BA and MBA degrees from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Global CEO of St. John

Andy Lew joined St. John as Global CEO in May 2021. He is a seasoned retail and fashion leader with a proven track record of driving global growth for luxury heritage brands and a deep insight into products, people, omnichannel retail, customer experience, market strategies, production, data, and digital analytics.

Mr. Lew spent most of his career in New York and Washington D.C. with roles as Divisional Merchandise Manager for Nordstrom in North America, as well as a leadership role at Ermenegildo Zegna where he was a member of their executive team in Greater China and Vice President in North America. He first joined Brooks Brothers Group in 2011 as Managing Director of the Asia Pacific region and returned to North America as the company’s Group President to lead their international business. With the company’s transition in ownership to Authentic Brands Group, Lew moved over as President of International for their 55 brands.

Lew is also an Independent Director for Ace Turtle and serves as Chairman of the finance committee and Member of the executive committee for Soles4Souls.

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Raffaele Caruso SpA

Marco Angeloni is the CEO of Caruso, where he previously held the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Business Development Director. He also worked as a Consultant in the luxury practice at Bain & Company and as a Strategic Planner at Brioni.

He has extensive experience and diverse skills across different segments of the industry, including planning and executing strategies, supply chain management, brand development, crisis and turnaround management, and business expansion. Mr. Angeloni holds a degree in Business Economics from Luiss University in Rome and an MBA from INSEAD.